Andrew Burchell

Yet another piece that bangs on about "DEI" in shameless ignorance of that fact that the thing he's complaining about in the UK context is called "EDI", thus strongly suggesting he doesn't, in fact, know what he's talking about.

I wrote about why we have a new LORD OF THE FLIES adaptation for 2026, & what that says about our attitudes to childhood! #booksky #sff

MS Word when I need to type in British English: Nope, we're stuck on American English, buddie. Not budging.

MS Word when I need to type in American English: Nah, this time we're British, mate.

My computer keyboard: Hej! Jag är svensk. Titta, en älg! 🫎

Sheffield Hallam restricts TPS access to REF academics only Teaching staff at post-92 institution to be employed by subsidiary firm and lose right to access expensive pensions scheme

'Teaching-only staff at Sheffield Hallam University are set to be moved into a subsidiary firm, leaving research intensive scholars the only academics still being employed directly by the institution.'

Utterly inequitable & betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the teaching/research nexus. 1/3

"Human writing often includes some clunky phrases, like this passage from Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, caused by the author's aversion to punctuation: 'As well ask men what they think of stone.'"

This is the stupidest g.d. thing I have read all day.

The BBC’s job is to “inform, educate, and entertain”? Let’s talk about the middle word.

What follows is the story of what we found in an FOI request (per the Observer) about the Corporation killing off plans to launch an online catalogue and failing to deliver ‘learning for people of all ages’. 🧵

This appalling fat cat wants to shut the door on all my mature students, many of whom left school after GCSE and give up a lot to go to university. I can tell him that they’re the hungriest for education and far from being unable to graduate, they regularly get the highest grades. Hateful man.

Call for applications: Visiting PhD-student positions in Medical Humanities, Uppsala University – Centrum för medicinsk humaniora – Uppsala universitet

If you know any Medical Humanities PhDs, Uppsala CMH is offering a visiting researcher scheme during the autumn (up to 6 months from August 2026). International applicants (i.e. outside of Sweden) most definitely welcome.

As they say in Swedish: sprid gärna!

www.uu.se/centrum/medi...

V good private eye this week

I cannot wait for the insights on this! He's going to:

1. Sample some local street food.
2. Ride a train.
3. Visit a temple.
4. Not mention the pogroms that the serving Prime Minister presided over.
5. Smile at some elephants.
6. Top up his kids' private school fees.
7. Say "India is changing".

Restoring order at the border speaks to Labour values. Without that, we won’t be able to do anything else at all | Shabana Mahmood Our approach, unlike that of the Greens and Reform, is in step with the British people. They don’t want extremes – they want a system that is managed and fair, says home secretary Shabana Mahmood

Talking about ‘Labour values’ is part of the problem: it is the trumpeting of a partisan and institutional identity over an attachment to an ideology that articulates the beliefs and interests of their actual voters, however much they dress it in the garb of the latter.

Reform win a seat: The true Volk have spoken and we all must listen.

Greens win a seat: Early reports that Muslims may have ‘voted’ (an ancient Islamic practice designed to steal elections). How severely should the franchise be limited in response?

Hygge hejså, drenge, det er mig, din ven fra England.

Hvorfor hedder så mange kandidater "Stem"? Det er jo et virkeligt underligt navn, synes jeg.

Nick Cohen's article about the shamelessness of Zack Polanski

This might surprise people who aren't from the UK, but over here there's a publication that, in order to write for it, you have to be a sex offender.

Utvisade systrarna i bombade Iran: ”Glöm inte oss” Darya, 24, och Donya, 20, utvisades från Sverige. Nu befinner de sig i ett brinnande Iran. ”Glöm inte oss”, skriver de till sina vänner i en gruppchatt.

Regeringen, och socialdemokraterna, utvisade dem till Iran. Ett land som systematiskt mördat sina egna medborgare och som nu bombas av Israel och USA. Jag vet inte vad man ska säga? Totalt mörker. 💔

Front page of the daily email with headline Police urged to probe Family voting fraud in sectarian by election Farage demands action after poll monitors raised the alarm Starmer reeling yet again as a Rayner leads calls to lurch left Kimmy says labour was bitten by monster of mass harvesting of Muslim votes

Very normal reaction to “British people voting for parties whose policies they prefer”. RATTLED

The response of Kaja Kallas (EU high rep on foreign affairs and security) on twitter. T Text: The latest developments across the Middle East are perilous. Iran’s regime has killed thousands. Its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, along with support for terror groups, pose a serious threat to global security. The EU has adopted strong sanctions against Iran and supported diplomatic solutions, including on the nuclear issue. I have spoken to Israel’s Foreign Minister Saar and other ministers in the region. The EU is also coordinating closely with Arab partners to explore diplomatic paths. Protection of civilians and international humanitarian law is a priority. Our consular network is fully engaged in facilitating departures for EU citizens. Non-essential EU personnel are being withdrawn from the region. Our Aspides naval mission remains on high alert in the Red Sea and stands ready to help keep the maritime corridor open

Starting about how Iran is bad domestically says it all. Or condemning the nuclear program while it is currently getting pounded by nuclear powers.

Wonderful way to respond to an illegal hateful deathly imperial attack. Kallas is so fucking terrible

Sectarian.

The sheer contempt and entitlement in that word.

Thousands of Muslim voters just voted for a white, (I think) working class non-Muslim woman because they feel abandoned by Labour and agree with her views on a huge foreign policy issue and on immigration policy

Voters in nineteenth and early twentieth century Liverpool and Glasgow (to say nothing of Northern Ireland) would like to have a word about the 'sectarian turn'.

Well, the plumber fixed the drip

Hannah Spencer walking into Westminster, sucking her teeth, tutting, and muttering "tell you what, you've had some cowboys in here."

It's almost like there should be entire fields of study devoted to the analysis of social and cultural structures/phenomena. Guess Nature will have to wait until someone invents them.

I was told there would be crack if the Greens won last night, but do you see any crack? Well neither do I. Another promise Starmer failed to keep.

All I’ve seen since this Green win is the BBC going on about their ‘divisive’ leaflets.

I really can’t imagine Reform would be getting such a post-victory grilling for their messages of hate

The unhinged radicalism of Mistar Urdd is a direct threat to British history

Ahahaha what do they think happened to all those horses that used to pull carriages? Did they all go to live on a farm upstate? 😂

By pretending that sex, sexuality, and gender are about privacy rather than fundamental dignity & personhood, Kruger can frame this extreme reordering of our dignity and personhood as mild technical questions of tax and family law.

It is a legal shell game, and the goal is to fleece us.

What Ted Sarandos did not tell the listeners to the Today programme just now about the Britishness of Netflix shows is that eg Adolescence came from talent discovered and nurtured and funded by British public-service broadcasters, not just found lying on the ground by US streamers.